WS-1200-IP Specifications

7.8"
x
0.8"
x
5.8"

816982 015617

Editorial Review

Ambient Weather manufactures weather-related products you might not have realized existed, like lightning detectors and tide clocks. They offer bedside alarm clocks that project the indoor and outdoor temperatures (and also, yes, the time) on the ceiling, mounting poles for outdoor weather stations -- and, of course, the weather stations themselves. If it's got "weather" in its name or even relates peripherally to things meteorological, Ambient Weather is all over it like rain on an inverted umbrella.

Ambient is a partner in both Weather Underground (wunderground.com) and WeatherBug, two of the largest free (and highly localized) weather networks in the world. Both networks are made possible by compact, low maintenance, Internet-connected (and often privately owned) weather stations, the kind Ambient makes in relatively affordable models. The Ambient Weather WS-1200-IP isn't the cheapest weather station on the market, but it's full featured and highly rated by Internet reviewers. Ambient even offers an optional weather camera, the AmbientCamHD, that lets you take pictures of the weather in the vicinity of the station for archival purposes, like proving to your Internet friends that the snow really was heavy enough to bury your recreational vehicle under a drift. (Ambient does note, however, that the unit is "[n]otrecommended for use in the Arctic Circle.")

The list of features is lengthy: wind vanes, rain cups, solar collector, UV sensor, solar radiation sensor, thermo-hygrometer (for measuring the the humidity). self-emptying rain collector -- and, of course, it can also tell you the temperature. The outdoor unit communicates wirelessly with an indoor display console and you can use Weather Underground to analyze and store your data. So both weather geeks and people who need to know the local weather for their livelihoods can get everything from it except satellite photos.